New Senate legislation introduced Tuesday that would restore consumers’ ability to use pre-tax dollars from flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts to purchase over-the-counter medicines without first seeing a doctor has been jointly endorsed by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association.

U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., on Tuesday introduced legislation that repeals a portion of Obamacare that prohibits people from using their medical savings account funds to buy over-the-counter medications.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association endorsed the Restoring Access to Medication Act (H.R. 2835), which would repeal a requirement enacted into law as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 that requires consumers to obtain a prescription in order to utilize their flexible spending arrangements and health savings accounts to purchase over-the-counter medicines.

A representative and a senator, both Republicans, recently introduced legislation that would repeal restrictions on health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 that prohibit the use of HSA and FSA account dollars for the purchase of over-the-counter drugs without a prescription.

One of the sponsors of the Family Health Care Flexibility Act, Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, called the restrictions "government overreach and interference." But they're more than that: They're simply wasteful. The whole point of healthcare reform is to expand access to health care while reducing cost, and requiring an expensive and time-consuming doctor visit to get a prescription for an OTC drug fails at both goals.

AffordRx.com is making a prescription discount card that offers savings of up to 75% at more than 56,000 pharmacies across the country available to all residents of the United States, the company said.

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2012 by a vote of 270-to-146, which will reinstate over-the-counter medicines as eligible expenses under flexible spending accounts without the requisite prescription established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last year.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved the Restoring Access to Medication Act (H.R. 5842), which would repeal the provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that disqualified expenses for over-the-counter drugs as eligible for reimbursement under health savings accounts and flexible spending arrangements without a prescription.

There are few certainties in life — death, taxes and the fact that you can get one heck of a healthcare bargain at your local pharmacy counter. And thanks in no small part to the industry associations advocating for pharmacy — including the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association — the lawmakers on the Hill are finally “getting it.”

Four legislators on Thursday introduced legislation that would restore over-the-counter medicines as qualified reimbursements under health spending accounts and flexible spending accounts without a prescription.

Give a man a doctor’s co-pay, and he is healthy for a day. Give him a health savings account, and that man becomes so much more vested in ensuring positive health outcomes that he may be healthy for a lifetime. Because in the long run, it’s cheaper.

Health savings accounts surpassed $10 billion at year-end 2010, according to a survey and the resulting research report conducted by Devenir, an investment firm that specializes in providing investment options for HSAs.

Companion legislation, which seeks to change a provision in the healthcare-reform law and permit Americans to use their flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts to buy over-the-counter medications without a prescription, has the support of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

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